Why are two different concepts both called "heap"?

c++ heap terminology heap-memory
Andrey Fedorov picture Andrey Fedorov · Nov 9, 2009 · Viewed 25.7k times · Source

Why are the runtime heap used for dynamic memory allocation in C-style languages and the data structure both called "the heap"? Is there some relation?

Answer

James McNellis picture James McNellis · Nov 9, 2009

Donald Knuth says (The Art of Computer Programming, Third Ed., Vol. 1, p. 435):

Several authors began about 1975 to call the pool of available memory a "heap."

He doesn't say which authors and doesn't give references to any specific papers, but does say that the use of the term "heap" in relation to priority queues is the traditional sense of the word.

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